End of Year Highlights

We haven't been able to go anywhere for a few weeks so I looked through my photos to see what would stand out.
Here is one of the most unusual contraptions I've seen for awhile. Mr. Keith and I were in the local music store where I was selecting new piano music for my Christmas gift. This piano looks like a big clam! I wonder if they will find a buyer for it?

Since we've been having some freezing temperatures we wanted to see how frozen the Clark Fork River was getting. To our surprise as we stepped onto the overlook we saw that not only were there big banks of ice, there were actually swimmers in there braving the waves. And the cold! Brrr! Not me!

Climbing to the "M" above the University is popular at anytime. If you enlarge this photo you will see several hikers along the zigzag trail.

Fishing is such a sport in Montana. Mr. Keith is standing by a sculpture that attests to that fact. Caras Park is a great place to hike the trails, to view the river, and to watch other folks out on a good day.

I got to play piano (Here Comes the Bride!) at a wedding at the KOA Gathering Place. The bride is the daughter of one of our KOA employees. That's me behind the balloons, unseen, but not unheard.

I have a tiny Christmas tree for our 5th wheel, but this year, rather than try to find room to put it, I decorated my jade tree. Works just as well! Without family to entertain or to celebrate with we keep things very low key.

One of our favorite drives is up the Rattlesnake, a valley cut by a good sized creek that flows down into Missoula. It's fairly well populated with lots of houses, but the draw for us is that the deer love to come down from the hills and roam around the neighborhoods, unafraid. We can usually spot at least a dozen in people's yards or in the fields nearby. They didn't mind our rubber-necking.

Opening and closing with a piano — mine continues to give me great joy. Practicing old pieces and trying new compositions is one of my very favorite things to do, both at the end of the year and all through the next one!